Known building construction utilizes a wall frame structure comprised of vertical studs interconnected with horizontal head and toe plates. Wall material like gypsum wall board is fastened to both sides of the studs and plates to provide a finished wall surface. Electric utilities, for example, power wires, communications cables and other kinds of wiring are often located in flexible, metal clad or armored cable; and the metal cable containing the wires is routed within the wall frame structure prior to the gypsum wall board being installed. In recent years, an increasing number of structures employ a metal wall frame structure rather than the traditional wooden studs and plates. A typical metal stud is an elongated U-shaped sheet metal member having a cross-sectional area approximately equal to a cross-sectional area of a standard wooden stud. When metal framing is used, the toe plate is often referred to as the bottom track. Wherever an electrical outlet is required, an electrical junction box is secured at a desired location to the wall frame structure, for example, a vertical stud or the horizontal bottom track. A junction box may have a mounting flange for directly mounting the junction box to a stud, or the junction box may be mounted to a bracket that, in turn, is mounted to the wall frame structure. Further, brackets of different designs are known for securing a junction box to a metal stud or bottom track. The sheet metal brackets provide great flexibility in locating the junction box within the wall frame structure.
It is often desired or even required that the cables terminating in a junction box be fixed or secured to a stud or other support within a fixed distance of the junction box. Thus, after a junction box is installed within a wall structure, cables going to and from the junction box are secured to a stud or plate with a separate clip. While any one clip does not take long to install, the cumulative time required to install a clip for all of the cables running to and from all of the junction boxes in a wiring installation can be significant. Thus, the installation of such clips substantially increases the labor cost associated with the installation of the electric utilities in a building.
Therefore, there is a need for a wiring accessory that eliminates the need to separately install clips for securing cables that terminate in a junction box.